NORWELL – Norwell girls lacrosse coach Kara Connerty knew that her squad needed to make one simple change at the half Wednesday when her Clippers hosted Cohasset in a South Shore League matchup.

“We just weren’t stepping to the ball in the first half,” Connerty said. “We were giving them too much room. They’re a good offensive team, so we just made the adjustment and started stepping to the ball.”

The switch in philosophy worked as Norwell turned a 9-9 halftime tie into a 13-11 win that clinched at least a share of the league title.

Caroline Walsh led Norwell (5-3, 3-0) with seven goals. Steph Croke and Katherine Connerty each added two, with Connerty scoring the go-ahead goal with 11:30 left in the game. Senior captain Katie Reardon had five forced turnovers for the Clippers.

The anchor of Norwell’s second-half stinginess was goalie Caroline Nichols, who made 15 saves, the majority of them coming on good scoring chances from in close at pivotal times.

“That was her best game this season,” Kara Connerty said of her first-year starter. “She was just able to save those low shots. She was terrific.”

There weren’t a lot of saves or defensive stops made in the first half. The only thing that slowed down either offense was lack of possession.

Cohasset (8-3, 3-1) dominated the draw midway through the first half and turned a 4-4 game into an 8-4 lead without Norwell ever possessing the ball.

Kathryn Dunn scored back-to-back goals and Marina Longo and Ally Leahy added a goal apiece on the 4-0 run. Dunn added another goal later in the first half to extend Cohasset’s lead to 9-6, but Norwell finally managed to win some draws and scored two goals in the final minute of the first half to tie the score at nine and swing momentum in their favor.

“All season long we talk about perseverance,” Kara Connerty said. “The game is a long game and momentum is key. We took a timeout and said that it is a long game, but we need to start playing the way we can.”

“And the draw is so big. Controlling the draw was enormous.”

Norwell, the defending Division 2 state champion, stayed above the .500 mark, which will be important as the young team tries to improve on the fly while playing a difficult schedule.

“Having that composure in tight games and having that confidence” has been hard to replace, Connerty said. “(It’s a matter of) just believing that when we take it to the cage confidently that we can finish.”

Page 2 of 2 - Cohasset, which was 8-7-2 last season, has had to replace the program’s all-time leading scorer, Hope Kissick, who graduated with 204 goals and 259 points. As a freshman she has appeared in 11 games for the University of Florida this season, helping the Gators to a 15-2 record.